5 Lawyers Plead Guilty To DWI Scam
A group of North Carolina lawyers plead guilty to running a scheme to “make drunken driving cases disappear.”
Four Johnston County defense attorneys and a former court clerk pleaded guilty Monday to illegally dismissing traffic cases, including citations for driving while impaired.
The lawyers, Chad Lee, 33, and Lee Hatch, 41, plead guilty to 10 counts of altering official case records, 10 counts of felony obstructing justice and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice. As a result, they lost their law licenses and received nearly a 4 year prison sentence for their involvement – instead of the 50 years they were facing, reports the News Observer. Further, attorney’s Jack McLamb,40, and Vann Sauls, 39, admitted guilt to several counts of misdemeanor obstructing justice, each receiving three years probation.
Former Johnston County Assistant District Attorney, Cindy Jaeger, who allegedly was at the center of the plot, still faces charges. Seventy dismissal forms with Jaeger’s signature on them, were filed after she left her job in September 2007, according to the indictments. The court clerk, Portia Snead, was ordered to serve 18 months unsupervised probation on a suspended active sentence of 45 days.
What is most surprising is that the scheme made little sense. No one got a promotion, large payments, or even congratulations.
In exchange for their help, Lee treated Snead to a trip in New York and both Lee and Hatch helped Jaeger move to Winston-Salem, NC, after her retirement in 2007.
“I cannot understand why anyone thought this was a good idea,” Superior Court Judge Henry Hight said just before sentencing Lee. “Detection was almost certain given the records and the number of people involved. I don’t get it.”
Hight called the case an example of “stupidity born of arrogance.”
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